American Civil War

The American Civil War was a bloody civil war fought between the United States government (also called "the Union" or "the North") and the secessionist Confederate States of America (also called "the Rebels" or "the South") from 12 April 1861 to 9 May 1865. The war, caused by the secession of eleven states in the American South due to their opposition to abolitionism, resulted in the abolition of slavery across the country, the creation of West Virginia as a state, and the Reconstruction reforms.

The war was the first war to see the use of machine guns and ironclads, both of which shaped land and naval warfare forever. Most armies still engaged in the traditional style of battle, involving the use of firing lines by regiments, but they were equipped with new weapons, including Colt and Henry repeater rifles. Warfare was brutal at times, with the Union waging a war of attrition on the South by 1864. William T. Sherman introduced the concept of "total war" with his March to the Sea, ravaging the states of Georgia and South Carolina during his march from Tennessee up the Atlantic Ocean coast. He figured that civilians were a part of the war as well, and destroying railroad lines, towns, public works, and farms would be crucial to winning the war, as it drained the Confederacy of supplies and morale. The war saw former West Point classmates fight against each other in battle, many of whom had fought together in the Mexican-American War, and it was common to see former neighbors, friends, and even family members fight against each other. The war would come to an end in April 1865 when the Union captured the Confederate capital of Richmond after the successful Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg, and the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered the main Confederate army at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer while viewing a play at Ford Theater on 14 April 1865, but the war was already coming to an end. On 2 May 1865, President Andrew Johnson proclaimed that the war had met its end, and that the union was preserved. 647,000 Union soldiers and 427,000 Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in the war, making it the bloodiest war in US history; the bloodiest single-day battle in US history was the Battle of Antietam in 1862. The war was followed with social change, as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, and the US Republican Party became the dominant party in the north. The Civil War's political and social divisions are still felt today, as conservatism and states rights are still major beliefs in the south, while liberalism and multiculturalism are major beliefs in the north.